A proposed constitutional amendment to boost research at the University of Houston and other Texas schools could create a million or more jobs and add billions of dollars in tax revenues, according to a study released Wednesday by economist Ray Perryman.

“And these are not just 1.2 million regular old, garden-variety jobs,” Perryman said. “Many of these jobs are the finest scientists, engineers doing the most exciting things that you can imagine.”

Perryman was in Austin to promote Proposition 4, which will be decided by voters in November. He was joined by former Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and James Huffines, chairman of the University of Texas board of regents, who are co-chairs of the advocacy group, Texans for Tier One.

Their central argument is that building up a handful of universities would pay off in new jobs, innovative research and expanded business opportunities.

“Unquestionably, the jobs of the future are going to follow the brainpower,” Huffines said.

He and Hobby stressed that the proposal will not require new taxes, although Perryman's report notes that additional state funding likely would be needed to sustain any gains.

The amendment, known as the Tier One bill, would allow a few schools to draw money from an existing fund — currently valued at almost $500 million — established years ago to support higher education but never used. The schools would have to meet a series of benchmarks, and none of them qualifies now.

Texas has just three Tier One schools now: UT-Austin, Texas A&M University and Rice University, placing Texas ninth among the 10 largest states in the number of Tier One schools per capita. (Florida ranks last.) California, by comparison, has nine.

Perryman, a well-known economist who is based in Waco, said his study indicates huge economic rewards if Texans approve Proposition 4. He did the work for free, calling it a public service.

Some of the new jobs would come from the universities themselves — he estimated the Texas schools would have to increase the size of their faculties by two-thirds to equal their peers nationally. But most were projected to come from increased economic development related to spinoff companies created by university research and to a more highly trained workforce.

Perryman said his projections are based on data from 21 medium-sized public Tier One universities in other states, as well as other sources, including information compiled by the Association of University Technology Managers to calculate likely business spinoffs related to university research.

Proposition 4 passed the Legislature unanimously and has been endorsed by business groups across the state. One group, Young Conservatives of Texas, has come out against it.

Another conservative group, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, hasn't taken a public stand, President and CEO Michael Quinn Sullivan said. But a research fellow there, retired college administrator Ronald Trowbridge, has opposed it.

Trowbridge hadn't seen Perryman's study Wednesday afternoon. But his primary criticism is that limiting the additional money to just seven schools — each designated as an “emerging research university” by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board — is unfair, and that students aren't well-served by research universities.

“Elite schools do not have any more impact on student growth than ordinary schools,” said Trowbridge, who now teaches at Lone Star College's Montgomery campus.

Supporters, meanwhile, are pushing the “no new taxes” theme.

But the Perryman report noted that Tier One schools elsewhere receive substantially more state money than Texas schools currently get. Wednesday, he said $100 million a year, per school, was a “ballpark figure” to become and remain a nationally competitive school.

“It's not guaranteed the state would have to spend any money,” he said.